EDMONTON - Progressive Conservative leadership candidates are hotly divided about whether wealthy Albertans ought to be free to buy health care outside the public system.
At the final Conservative leadership debate two days before first-ballot voting begins, candidates told a crowd of 1200 Edmontonians where they stand.
Alison Redford and Ted Morton both emphatically ruled out privately paid health care in Alberta.
“Albertans want a public health care system, they want it to work, they want it to be effective, and they want to know that everyone is going to get treated fairly,” Redford said. “I don’t believe Albertans want (a two-tiered system), it’s not my value ... We have to make public health care work, because that’s what Albertans want.”
She agreed with Morton, who believes the government must work to make the public system more efficient.
“There will be no private pay for private health care,” Morton said. “We would have to find more efficient ways to deliver publicly paid health care.” One possibility includes contracting out publicly paid services to private clinics, he said.
“But there is no queue-jumping for people who have more money. We’re not going to allow that.”
Klein-era health minister Gary Mar highlighted his support for publicly-funded health care and downplayed his earlier support for developing privately paid health care options in the province.
“I believe in a strong public health-care system,” Mar said, mentioning the HealthLink service and private care networks he introduced as health minister. “This debate over what the role of the private delivery, that’s not ultimately a decision for me, or for government. It’s a decision that Albertans have to make. And I’m open to that discussion.”
Last month, Mar told The Journal he believes wealthy people should be able to buy health care within the confines of the Canada Health Act. “I don’t want to stand in the way between somebody who is willing to do that and a health service they feel that they need,” Mar said at the time.
Doug Griffiths said Albertans already buy health care outside the province and he won’t rule out privatization in Alberta.
“I don’t know exactly how we have to set it up, but I’m not going to rule anything out,” Griffiths said. “Albertans need to have a discussion and together come up with a solution on how we’re going to take personal responsibility for our care, so we don’t just treat the sickness but are incented to become healthier people.”
Orman did not take a stand on privatization, but focused instead on efficiency. “It’s taxpayers dollars. We must respect it. We must spend it more efficiently,” Orman said. He has previously said he was not willing to rule out privatization.
Former deputy premier Doug Horner said “privately funded health care is not the answer or solution for publicly funded health care.
“This is not rocket science. You can’t incent good behaviour until you’re actually managing the system you have appropriately, and we’re not doing that just yet.” Horner has previously said he would not rule out private pay health care.
Candidates also fielded a question about how the province can obtain a bigger voice in Ottawa.
Horner said he would push the federal government hard on a number of issues, including the state of aboriginal education, and money the province believes it is owed in health transfers.
“We’re owed a $1 billion, we should get it,” he said, to loud applause. “I’m not saying I’ll go after them with baseball bat. I’m saying I’ll go after them with a carrot-flavoured stick.”
Morton, who worked on policy with Stephen Harper before the latter became prime minister, said Ottawa needs to be reminded that a strong Alberta economy will help the rest of the country. Mar agreed, saying Alberta helps to create jobs in Quebec and elsewhere.
Griffiths said the province’s best approach is to present a united front with Saskatchewan and British Columbia, while Redford said one of the most important roles for a premier is to build support for Alberta in the rest of the country.
The all-ages crowd was studded with Edmonton movers and shakers and a crowd of blue-shirted Envision Edmonton supporters, the group fighting against the redevelopment of the City Centre Airport. Many of them appeared to be supporting Griffiths.
Campaign teams staged a paraphernalia duel in the room: Mar’s crew draped the centre section of seats in orange T-shirts, while Horner water bottles were everywhere and Griffiths posters adorned many of the chairs near the front. When entering the hall, Tories encountered an eight-foot-high poster of a smiling Redford.
Even opposition parties sent emissaries to listen the would-be premiers debate.
Before the debate, some candidates answered questions about a letter written by former Alberta Health Services president Dr. Stephen Duckett and published Thursday.
Redford and Orman said they agreed with Duckett’s assertion that the health system has suffered from constant meddling by politicians.
Redford said the government’s job is to hire the right people to run the system, set a framework for them to implement and then get out of the way.
“We need to give them certainty in the management structure without politicians getting excited every time there is an issue.”
Orman agreed there has been too much “gerrymandering” in the health system.
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2013.